Mission Statement and Patron Saint Discernment Letter

 (我們正在準備這封信的中文翻譯 – We are preparing the Chinese translation of this letter)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

We are pleased to begin the final stages of the discernment process for two important pillars of our new Mission: our “mission statement” and our “patron saint”. During the following weeks, we plan to follow a community-wide discernment process-- in accordance with Bishop McGrath’s January letter to our community--to achieve these goals.

Having both a clear mission statement and a fitting patron saint is important towards reinforcing our identity and establishing a purpose for our Mission. As we near the official date of our Mission installation (July 8), we are asking every member to participate in this discernment process by praying and by providing input on these two areas. 

As a community we have almost 30 years of history, with much to be proud of and much to look forward to.  We are blessed with so many talents, due in part to the broad range of generations that form our community.  Therefore, we strongly desire participation in this discernment from everyone, especially from our youth, our children!

You can provide your input directly to any of our Pastoral Council members in the printed forms that we are going to provide or by submitting them online at http://www.sjccc.org/index.php/commissioningevent/discernment.html no later than May 24th, 2012. 

Once all feedback has been received and compiled, the Pastoral Council will finalize the “mission statement” and proceed with the following steps for discerning our “patron saint”:

●    Sunday, May 27^th – The complete list of proposed saints will be available。

●    Sunday, June 3^rd – Everyone will be invited to vote on the list of saints。The names with the top votes will be reviewed by the Pastoral Council and presented to the Bishop the following week。

●    Sunday, June 10^th – We will announce the final decision for our patron saint and make public our mission statement。 This will be a memorable event as we will be able for the first time to entrust our Mission to our patron saint!

Enclosed is the latest working version of our mission statement as well as an initial list of potential saints to consider.  We have based this list of Saints on their involvement and love for the Chinese people, but we welcome any other suggestions or ideas.  

We look forward to hearing from you。

God bless!

SJCCC Pastoral Council (James Hua, Patrick Ku,

Teresa Lai, Henry Shu, Simon Liao, Yueh An-Pung,

Tony Fu, Shi Tien-Pao) and Fr. Olivera

* Mission Statement (under construction):

We are called to be a dynamic Catholic community that is welcoming to all, growing in faith and apostolic love, and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, particularly among the Chinese, in the Diocese of San Jose and beyond.

* List of Potential Patron Saints:

	English	Chinese	Date of Celebration	Comments
1	Our Lady of China	中華聖母	Saturday before Mothers Day – (in May)	Since 1973 by decree of the Chinese Episcopal Conference in Taiwan.
2	Mary Help of Christians	進教之佑	May 24	Related to the Shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan, Shanghai. Pope Benedict XVI designated May 24th to be a special day to pray for China in the whole Church.
3	Martyrs of China	中華殉道聖人	July 9	Canonized by John Paul II in October 2000. The first Chinese canonized saints.
4	St. Francis Xavier	聖方濟. 薩威 or（方濟格，沙勿略）	December 3	Patron of the Catholic Missions together with St. Therese of the Child Jesus.
5	St. Therese of the Child Jesus	聖女小德蘭	October 1	Patron of the Catholic Missions together with St. Francis Xavier. She always prayed for the Church in China.

Note: As a help to the understand the situation of our community, our Pastoral Council together with Fr. Olivera is preparing a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document about our Mission. The document will be ready and announced in the upcoming days.